Abroad
Jonathan Jones

Mid May

one does not feel a foreigner
in quite the same way.

between
what we were
and what we are
 
a headline reads

a young boy sits on the steps
of St Paul’s high on amphetamine.
 
I do not know how long it
was exactly. Five years.
the same again
 
Attempted Murder, Parachute Fails To Open.
 
Tennyson learnt by heart;
where Beckett bled
no safety found abroad
in phony sanctuary.
 
english accents rich on holiday
affirm
 
the moist heat cooling out
of windows on a woman’s skin.
 
In the evening I can
 
almost feel myself
a local fraud come good
where the sky
 
quickly glances overseas.
 

 
​
 

About the Author:
Jonathan is a freelance writer currently living and working in Rome. His main influences are Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Chandler, Saki and Yann Martel. Jonathan qualified in 1999 with his M.A. in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University College, and in 2004 with an MRes in Humanities from Keele University. He presently teaches writing composition at John Cabot University in Rome.